IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/corsem/v31y2024i1p493-513.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The performance of green communication across social media: Evidence from large‐scale retail industry in Italy

Author

Listed:
  • Giuseppe Crapa
  • Maria Elena Latino
  • Paolo Roma

Abstract

Social media have surged prominently as communication channels for corporate social responsibility. However, little is still known about the performance of green versus non‐green communication across different social media. We contribute by examining whether the presence of green features in social media communication exerts a beneficial effect on consumer response in terms of likes, comments, and shares. We also investigate how this effect hinges upon the social media platform where the content is posted as well as the richness of the format (text, photos, videos) utilized for the diffusion. To our scopes, we use an ad hoc dataset of posts of two major large‐scale retailers in Italy across three major social media, namely Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Our results show that, while green content generally stimulates larger response than non‐green content, its effect varies across social media, with the highest effect being observed on Instagram (at least for likes) and the lowest on Twitter (at least for comments). Moreover, the extent to which the positive effect of green content increases as media richness increases (i.e., moving from only text to text plus photo, and then to text plus video) is also contingent upon the social media platform. On Facebook, the moderation of media richness is positive and significant, while being insignificant on Instagram. On Twitter, the moderation is even nonmonotonic in the sense that the highest (positive) effect of green content tends to be obtained for either low or high media richness. Our findings offer remarkable implications for firms engaging in environmental sustainability.

Suggested Citation

  • Giuseppe Crapa & Maria Elena Latino & Paolo Roma, 2024. "The performance of green communication across social media: Evidence from large‐scale retail industry in Italy," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(1), pages 493-513, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:corsem:v:31:y:2024:i:1:p:493-513
    DOI: 10.1002/csr.2581
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/csr.2581
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/csr.2581?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. N. W. Smith & H. Joffe, 2009. "Climate change in the British press: the role of the visual," Journal of Risk Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(5), pages 647-663, July.
    2. Kent Walker & Fang Wan, 2012. "The Harm of Symbolic Actions and Green-Washing: Corporate Actions and Communications on Environmental Performance and Their Financial Implications," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 109(2), pages 227-242, August.
    3. Emel Yarimoglu & Tugrul Gunay, 2020. "The extended theory of planned behavior in Turkish customers' intentions to visit green hotels," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(3), pages 1097-1108, March.
    4. Ananda Khanal & Muhammad Akhtaruzzaman & Indrapriya Kularatne, 2021. "The influence of social media on stakeholder engagement and the corporate social responsibility of small businesses," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(6), pages 1921-1929, November.
    5. Richard L. Daft & Robert H. Lengel, 1986. "Organizational Information Requirements, Media Richness and Structural Design," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 32(5), pages 554-571, May.
    6. Gensler, Sonja & Völckner, Franziska & Liu-Thompkins, Yuping & Wiertz, Caroline, 2013. "Managing Brands in the Social Media Environment," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 242-256.
    7. Cooper, Stuart M. & Owen, David L., 2007. "Corporate social reporting and stakeholder accountability: The missing link," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 32(7-8), pages 649-667.
    8. Banerjee, Subhabrata Bobby, 2002. "Corporate environmentalism: the construct and its measurement," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 55(3), pages 177-191, March.
    9. Lu, Qiang Steven & Miller, Rohan, 2019. "How Social Media Communications Combine with Customer Loyalty Management to Boost Green Retail Sales," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 87-100.
    10. Itziar Castelló & Michael Etter & Finn Årup Nielsen, 2016. "Strategies of Legitimacy Through Social Media: The Networked Strategy," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(3), pages 402-432, May.
    11. Simone Pizzi & Sara Moggi & Fabio Caputo & Pierfelice Rosato, 2021. "Social media as stakeholder engagement tool: CSR communication failure in the oil and gas sector," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(2), pages 849-859, March.
    12. Yu, Joanne & Egger, Roman, 2021. "Color and engagement in touristic Instagram pictures: A machine learning approach," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    13. Margaret C Campbell & J Jeffrey Inman & Amna Kirmani & Linda L Price, 2020. "In Times of Trouble: A Framework for Understanding Consumers’ Responses to Threats," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 47(3), pages 311-326.
    14. Maja Hosta & Vesna Zabkar, 2021. "Antecedents of Environmentally and Socially Responsible Sustainable Consumer Behavior," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 171(2), pages 273-293, June.
    15. Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly, 2000. "The Costs and Benefits of Consuming," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 27(2), pages 267-272, September.
    16. Lim, Weng Marc & Rasul, Tareq, 2022. "Customer engagement and social media: Revisiting the past to inform the future," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 325-342.
    17. Xisi Yang & Anja Weber & Anna-Katharina Grimm, 2022. "The effects of green consumer empowerment in advertising on corporate evaluations and purchase intention: the case of organic food," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 16(6), pages 1877-1909, August.
    18. Vilnai-Yavetz, Iris & Tifferet, Sigal, 2015. "A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words: Segmenting Consumers by Facebook Profile Images," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 53-69.
    19. Golany, B. & Kress, M., 1993. "A multicriteria evaluation of methods for obtaining weights from ratio-scale matrices," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(2), pages 210-220, September.
    20. Diletta Acuti & Laura Grazzini & Valentina Mazzoli & Gaetano Aiello, 2019. "Stakeholder engagement in green place branding: A focus on user‐generated content," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(2), pages 492-501, March.
    21. Hollebeek, Linda D. & Glynn, Mark S. & Brodie, Roderick J., 2014. "Consumer Brand Engagement in Social Media: Conceptualization, Scale Development and Validation," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 149-165.
    22. Kunal Swani & Lauren I. Labrecque, 2020. "Like, Comment, or Share? Self-presentation vs. brand relationships as drivers of social media engagement choices," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 31(2), pages 279-298, September.
    23. Colicev, Anatoli & Kumar, Ashish & O'Connor, Peter, 2019. "Modeling the relationship between firm and user generated content and the stages of the marketing funnel," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 100-116.
    24. Davide Giacomini & Paola Zola & Diego Paredi & Mario Mazzoleni, 2020. "Environmental disclosure and stakeholder engagement via social media: State of the art and potential in public utilities," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(4), pages 1552-1564, July.
    25. Min-Dong Lee, 2011. "Configuration of External Influences: The Combined Effects of Institutions and Stakeholders on Corporate Social Responsibility Strategies," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 102(2), pages 281-298, August.
    26. S. Steenhaut & P. Van Kenhove, 2006. "The Mediating Role of Anticipated Guilt in Consumers’ Ethical Decision-Making," Working Papers of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium 06/370, Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.
    27. Henning Madsen & John P. Ulhøi, 2001. "Integrating environmental and stakeholder management," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 10(2), pages 77-88, March.
    28. Jana Hojnik & Mitja Ruzzier & Tatiana S. Manolova, 2020. "Sustainable development: Predictors of green consumerism in Slovenia," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(4), pages 1695-1708, July.
    29. Pelin Demirel & Qian Cher Li & Francesco Rentocchini & J. Pawan Tamvada, 2019. "Born to be green: new insights into the economics and management of green entrepreneurship," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 52(4), pages 759-771, April.
    30. Irina Lock & Theo Araujo, 2020. "Visualizing the triple bottom line: A large‐scale automated visual content analysis of European corporations' website and social media images," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(6), pages 2631-2641, November.
    31. Jeffrey York, 2009. "Pragmatic Sustainability: Translating Environmental Ethics into Competitive Advantage," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 85(1), pages 97-109, February.
    32. Ko, Eunju & Megehee, Carol M., 2012. "Fashion marketing of luxury brands: Recent research issues and contributions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 65(10), pages 1395-1398.
    33. Itziar Castelló & Mette Morsing & Friederike Schultz, 2013. "Communicative Dynamics and the Polyphony of Corporate Social Responsibility in the Network Society," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 118(4), pages 683-694, December.
    34. Sarah Steenhaut & Patrick Kenhove, 2006. "The Mediating Role of Anticipated Guilt in Consumers’ Ethical Decision-Making," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 69(3), pages 269-288, December.
    35. Biel, Anders & Thogersen, John, 2007. "Activation of social norms in social dilemmas: A review of the evidence and reflections on the implications for environmental behaviour," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 93-112, January.
    36. repec:eme:aaaj00:aaaj-07-2015-2122 is not listed on IDEAS
    37. Andrew D. Brown & Ken Starkey, 1994. "The Effect Of Organizational Culture On Communication And Information," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(6), pages 807-828, November.
    38. Kaplan, Andreas M. & Haenlein, Michael, 2010. "Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 53(1), pages 59-68, January.
    39. repec:eme:aaaj00:aaaj-09-2017-3158 is not listed on IDEAS
    40. Rietveld, Robert & van Dolen, Willemijn & Mazloom, Masoud & Worring, Marcel, 2020. "What You Feel, Is What You Like Influence of Message Appeals on Customer Engagement on Instagram," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 20-53.
    41. Alan R. Dennis & Susan T. Kinney, 1998. "Testing Media Richness Theory in the New Media: The Effects of Cues, Feedback, and Task Equivocality," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 9(3), pages 256-274, September.
    42. Brice Arnaud, 2017. "Extended Producer Responsibility and Green Marketing: An Application to Packaging," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 67(2), pages 285-296, June.
    43. Pat Auger & Timothy Devinney, 2007. "Do What Consumers Say Matter? The Misalignment of Preferences with Unconstrained Ethical Intentions," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 76(4), pages 361-383, December.
    44. Russell W. Belk, 2013. "Extended Self in a Digital World," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 40(3), pages 477-500.
    45. Rosa Maria Dangelico, 2016. "Green Product Innovation: Where we are and Where we are Going," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(8), pages 560-576, December.
    46. Davide Giacomini & Diego Paredi & Alessandro Sancino, 2022. "Stakeholder interactions as sources for organisational learning: insights from the water sector," Meditari Accountancy Research, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 30(7), pages 1-25, February.
    47. Dokyun Lee & Kartik Hosanagar & Harikesh S. Nair, 2018. "Advertising Content and Consumer Engagement on Social Media: Evidence from Facebook," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 64(11), pages 5105-5131, November.
    48. Marco Bellucci & Giacomo Manetti, 2017. "Facebook as a tool for supporting dialogic accounting? Evidence from large philanthropic foundations in the United States," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 30(4), pages 874-905, May.
    49. Michael B. Beverland & Francis J. Farrelly, 2010. "The Quest for Authenticity in Consumption: Consumers' Purposive Choice of Authentic Cues to Shape Experienced Outcomes," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 36(5), pages 838-856, February.
    50. Algharabat, Raed & Rana, Nripendra P. & Alalwan, Ali Abdallah & Baabdullah, Abdullah & Gupta, Ashish, 2020. "Investigating the antecedents of customer brand engagement and consumer-based brand equity in social media," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    51. Micael-Lee Johnstone & Lay Tan, 2015. "Exploring the Gap Between Consumers’ Green Rhetoric and Purchasing Behaviour," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 132(2), pages 311-328, December.
    52. Boris Mrkajic & Samuele Murtinu & Vittoria G. Scalera, 2019. "Is green the new gold? Venture capital and green entrepreneurship," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 52(4), pages 929-950, April.
    53. Goran Calic & Elaine Mosakowski, 2016. "Kicking Off Social Entrepreneurship: How A Sustainability Orientation Influences Crowdfunding Success," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(5), pages 738-767, July.
    54. Marco Bellucci & Lorenzo Simoni & Diletta Acuti & Giacomo Manetti, 2019. "Stakeholder engagement and dialogic accounting," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 32(5), pages 1467-1499, August.
    55. Dobele, Angela & Lindgreen, Adam & Beverland, Michael & Vanhamme, Joelle & van Wijk, Robert, 2007. "Why pass on viral messages? Because they connect emotionally," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 50(4), pages 291-304.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Roma, Paolo & Aloini, Davide, 2019. "How does brand-related user-generated content differ across social media? Evidence reloaded," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 322-339.
    2. Kulikovskaja, Viktorija & Hubert, Marco & Grunert, Klaus G. & Zhao, Hong, 2023. "Driving marketing outcomes through social media-based customer engagement," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    3. Shahbaznezhad, Hamidreza & Dolan, Rebecca & Rashidirad, Mona, 2021. "The Role of Social Media Content Format and Platform in Users' Engagement Behavior," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 47-65.
    4. Syrdal, Holly A. & Myers, Susan & Sen, Sandipan & Woodroof, Parker J. & McDowell, William C., 2023. "Influencer marketing and the growth of affiliates: The effects of language features on engagement behavior," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    5. Erik Ernesto Vazquez, 2021. "Effect of an e-retailer’s product category and social media platform selection on perceived quality of e-retail products," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 31(1), pages 139-157, March.
    6. Alice Mazzucchelli & Roberto Chierici & Angelo Di Gregorio & Claudio Chiacchierini, 2021. "Is Facebook an effective tool to access foreign markets? Evidence from international export performance of fashion firms," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 25(4), pages 1107-1144, December.
    7. Davide Giacomini & Paola Zola & Diego Paredi & Mario Mazzoleni, 2020. "Environmental disclosure and stakeholder engagement via social media: State of the art and potential in public utilities," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(4), pages 1552-1564, July.
    8. Jinhui Li, 2024. "Promoting HPV vaccination: effectiveness of mobile short videos for shaping attitudes and influencing behaviors," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-11, December.
    9. Raed S. Algharabat & Nripendra P. Rana, 0. "Social Commerce in Emerging Markets and its Impact on Online Community Engagement," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 0, pages 1-22.
    10. Jinjiang Cai & Jingjing Wu & Hongjie Zhang & Yifei Cai, 2023. "Research on the Influence Mechanism of Fashion Brands’ Crossover Alliance on Consumers’ Online Brand Engagement: The Mediating Effect of Hedonic Perception and Novelty Perception," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-17, February.
    11. Matej Kovač & Vesna Žabkar, 2020. "Do Social Media and E-Mail Engagement Impact Reputation and Trust-Driven Behavior?," Tržište/Market, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb, vol. 32(1), pages 9-25.
    12. Lim, Weng Marc & Rasul, Tareq, 2022. "Customer engagement and social media: Revisiting the past to inform the future," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 325-342.
    13. Gandhi, Mohina & Kar, Arpan Kumar, 2022. "How do Fortune firms build a social presence on social media platforms? Insights from multi-modal analytics," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 182(C).
    14. Koivisto, Elina & Mattila, Pekka, 2020. "Extending the luxury experience to social media – User-Generated Content co-creation in a branded event," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 570-578.
    15. Sheng, Jie, 2019. "Being Active in Online Communications: Firm Responsiveness and Customer Engagement Behaviour," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 40-51.
    16. Ramaswamy, Venkat & Ozcan, Kerimcan, 2016. "Brand value co-creation in a digitalized world: An integrative framework and research implications," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 93-106.
    17. Grant, Stephanie M. & Hodge, Frank D. & Sinha, Roshan K., 2018. "How disclosure medium affects investor reactions to CEO bragging, modesty, and humblebragging," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 68, pages 118-134.
    18. Nanne, Annemarie J. & Antheunis, Marjolijn L. & van der Lee, Chris G. & Postma, Eric O. & Wubben, Sander & van Noort, Guda, 2020. "The Use of Computer Vision to Analyze Brand-Related User Generated Image Content," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 156-167.
    19. Koo, Chulmo & Wati, Yulia & Jung, Jason J., 2011. "Examination of how social aspects moderate the relationship between task characteristics and usage of social communication technologies (SCTs) in organizations," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 31(5), pages 445-459.
    20. Stefan Tönnissen & Frank Teuteberg, 2021. "Real Estate Crowdfunding mit ICOs – Erfolgsfaktoren und Handlungsempfehlungen [Real estate crowdfunding with iCOs—success factors and recommendations]," Zeitschrift für Immobilienökonomie (German Journal of Real Estate Research), Springer;Gesellschaft für Immobilienwirtschaftliche Forschung e. V., vol. 7(1), pages 35-58, April.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:corsem:v:31:y:2024:i:1:p:493-513. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://doi.org/10.1002/(ISSN)1535-3966 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.